National Hospital Week

Where Health Comes First

Special to The Messenger

National Hospital Week 2020 highlights the adage of every hospital, health system and person involved in keeping our communities healthy – that health comes first.

Now more than ever, this important week gives us all the opportunity to highlight our hospitals, health systems and health care workers and the innovative ways they are supporting the needs of their community members during this pandemic.

With that in mind, this year’s celebration of hospitals, health systems and health care workers is taking the form of “A Week of Thanks,” where people can participate from the safety and comfort of their homes while health care heroes go to work fighting against COVID-19.

During this national health crisis, hospitals and health systems are doing everything they can to care for their patients and communities, and that extends to our health care heroes serving on the front lines — physicians, nurses and the entire health care team, including food services, environmental services, administrative, EMS and support staff. Even in normal circumstances, working in health care delivery is hard, stressful and tiring work; COVID-19 makes it especially exhausting physically and mentally.